Ravenshoe Characters

Characters

Father Mackworth, the resident priest at Ravenshoe, who engages in nefarious schemes to prevent Ravenshoe from becoming the property of a Protestant heir. He dies after confessing his plots and begging forgiveness of the heir he has dispossessed.

Charles Ravenshoe

Charles Ravenshoe, the second son of Densil Ravenshoe and his Protestant wife. When Charles’s mother dies in childbirth, Densil promises her that her son will be reared as a Protestant. He is reared by Norah, the gamekeeper’s wife, along with her own son, William. To prevent Charles from inheriting Ravenshoe, Father Mackworth says that Norah switched the babies in her care and that William, a Catholic, is the true heir. Charles then becomes a servant and later enlists in the army to fight in the Crimea, where he is wounded. Charles finally learns that he is the true heir to Ravenshoe. He then marries and shows great leniency to William.

Densil Ravenshoe

Densil Ravenshoe, Charles’s father, who as a young man goes off to London and falls in with Lord Saltire, an atheist. He finally returns to the church but marries a Protestant woman.

Adelaide Summers

Adelaide Summers, the ward of Lady Ascot. Charles falls in love with Adelaide, but she runs away with Lord Welter, Charles’s cousin. She is a vain young woman and not worthy of Charles’s love.